CHAPTER 19

The Last Sunset

One of Kaius's ships met theirs, docking up alongside it. Maija fell to the ground, collapsing against the deck next to Erik who had managed to hang onto both the ship and the pure atlas. She had no strength to stand on her own and every inch of her body was covered in sweat and dirt, her clothes tattering from the harsh sands and burning red rashes forming all over her skin. A man met her, helped her stand as two others picked Erik up.

There was movement everywhere as people boarded their ship, all dressed in the typical New Unity garb. Five men took the atlas, dragged it out of view as several others trampled around, brushing the deck from sand and getting to repairs on the damaged ship.

The man wrapped her shoulder around his neck and pulled Maija to her feet. She groaned, dull and stiff pain filling her every joint. It was when she watched the men take Erik's limp body down a separate corridor than the one the man was leading her down that she started to panic. Blood pounded in her ears and her vision blurred.

"No wait-," Maija choked on her own tongue, lightheadedness making her stomach turn and legs shake. "I need to be- he can't-"

"He'll be fine," the man replied, his tone harsh and his voice empty. "You need rest. Kaius wants you prepared for what comes next."

Her breathing quickened as black spots filled her vision. "I can't. I need to-." She tripped, the man catching her instantly. He swooped her up into his arms as Maija's consciousness faded from the world, now alone, trapped and afraid in the coldness of her mind.

Maija's eyes snapped open as air filled her lungs. She fell off the side of the cushioned bed she had been lying in. Her hands grabbed into the metal deck as she sat, on her hands and knees, pulling in deep breath after deep breath. Physically fighting against panic, the muscles through her stomach and arms shaking until she finally managed to get control over her breath.

The room she was in was warm and lit with an orange light, a candle blanketing the room in a dense, sweet and nameless scent. Maija sighed and sat back on her knees, slouching, letting her knuckles clatter against the metal deck. She was alone.

And in a new set of clothes. It took her a few seconds to notice and when she did, she slowly got to her feet, noticing the thick boots covering them as well. Her feet felt tight, constricted. She didn't like it.

The clothes she wore now were very similar to what she had before. A Wanderer's robe, the black dyed cloth felt heavy hanging down her shoulder. Everything was almost the same except for a leather belt that held constrictively and tightly to her torso, below her chest. She also wore shoulder pads made from leather that adored stripes of gold, eight on her right shoulder, eight on the left. Along the hem of the cloth that draped over her shoulder were several more bands of gold.

She took her boots off, curled her toes and sat back on the floor, looking up at the door to her room. Maija needed to see Erik. She needed to know that he was alright but at the same time, she feared she would need to face Kaius if she left this room. As if time stood still while she was alone and that if she just sat here, legs spread out on the floor like a child, she wouldn't have to deal with any of her problems anymore.

But as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly, Maija noticed something. Something she felt almost embarrassed to have realized so late. Her back was free, empty, her spear gone, and after a quick check at her hip, her gun as well. Her right arm felt lighter and there was no weight to her belt, both her grappling hook and hip quiver missing. She jumped up, breaking into a cold sweat, clearly remembering the day or two she had spent locked in Kaius's ship. She grabbed to the cold metal door and pushed it open.

The door stood ajar, creaking on its hinges as it came to a slow stop, an empty corridor stretching on in both directions. Maija slowly stepped out, looking both ways before falling back into her room and slamming the door shut behind her. Facing the room at a different angle, she spotting a shelf above the bed. Sitting, arranged atop one another, was her grappling hook, quiver stocked full of aluminum arrows, her spear, and Luke's gun.

Maija quickly grabbed her things, returning her equipment to their places. Then she left the room she vaguely remembered. Two beds on each side, a table in the middle, this was the one she and Erik stayed in before they left for the pure atlas. She was on Kaius's flagship, the biggest of them all, the most powerful. Equipped with a weapon so strong, it could sink islands to the void.

She tore the door open and left it there behind her as she ran down the corridor, taking a turn to a set of stairs, she began climbing. Deck after deck passed by as Maija moved up, not know exactly what the next step for her was, no next objective. If could take a guess, she had been asleep for hours, maybe days. Her mind was fuzzy, and her eyes were blurry. She kept climbing, her new clothes stiff against her body, the strips of gold feeling heavy at the base of the cloth hanging from her shoulder.

Then she stepped out into cold wind, sunlight pouring down through dense and fluffy white clouds, blinding Maija instantly. She stopped, covering her eyes with her arm as wind tore at her hair, pulling it out from its binding at the back of her head. Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she saw Kaius standing at the bow of the ship, his back to her. He looked out towards an island not too far away, massive white stone constructing a building far in front of the ship. The island was so large that even at this distance, its edges reached out beyond the ship, far below the ship's bottom.

Kaius was wearing a thick brown coat made from the finest of leather, soft and plain, almost unbelievable that it came from a manta's hide. The coat hung beneath his knees and the collar stretched up to cover most of his head. His arms were held behind his back, a light grey material peeking out from beneath the coat's sleeves that bore similar gold bands that hung on Maija's robe.

Maija slowly stepped forwards, noticing the movement of the others on deck as they watched her approach. Kaius didn't move, the wind tearing at his hair and coat, pushing it up against his legs. Out beyond the edge of the ship was the structure sitting atop its island, a domed building made from the whitest of stones. It's top reached above the clouds, its very tip disappearing through them. At its base was two other square buildings attached to each of its sides forming an X shape. The building was grand and gloomy from the overcast weather which had started to blot out the light of the sun.

Stealing herself from nerves, Maija stepped up besides Kaius, his eyes still anchored to the building in front of them. She stood, matching his hand's positions behind his back, willing him to give the first word, too afraid to give one herself.

He took a deep breath in, and let it go in a sign full of relief, a smile stretching across his face covered in a bread long than the one he bore before she had left, still has nicely groomed. His eyes, green and shimmering, were filled with hope and almost... happiness. Content. "So, Maija, after all of this, here we are. The end of the line. The final sunset."

Finally, he turned towards her, showing the front of his body dressed in clothing Maija had never seen before. Grey, made mostly from metal, and armor plated over a suit made from thick cloth that almost looked like plastic. Thick black tubing webbed around the plates of metal that made up the armor, snaking into ports along his chest and sides. It looked like it was from the future, but the metal was corroded and rusted like it had been sitting alone in the Badlands for decades.

"After your successful recovery of the pure atlas," Kaius said. Maija let her face settle into a look of completely emptiness, not allowing the deepest of her thought to be displayed to the world. "I believe it would be only fair for you to receive some compensation."

Maija felt her heart skip a beat as it clicked what Kaius had meant. She clenched her fists. He turned from her, directing his eyes back to the building, Ishtar was its name. He sighed, "It's hard to find where you begin, or where you end. You are an anomaly. You have yet to realize your true purpose in this story."

"Sir."

Both Maija and Kaius looked towards the voice in tandem, Maija flinching as she did. She couldn't yet begin to understand what Kaius had told her already and this interruption was reminder that she may never have her questions answered. She could already feel it slipping through her fingers as she watched Kaius fully turn away from her, focusing his attention on the man who stood in front of them.

"A ship is approaching," the man addressing Kaius, "it isn't one of ours."

Kaius moved, past the man and around to the back end of the ship. He stopped, waiting. Maija didn't move, feeling more than ever like she didn't belong, a thought in the back of her mind like an itch that told her she wasn't supposed to be here. Leave. Now.

Kaius adjusted his gaze as the ship rose into view over the edge of his ship. Standing tall and strong on a wooden dingy, was Naisha. Covered head to toe in dirt, grime, and sweat glistening in the waning sunlight. She huffed and puffed huge breaths of air, clenching her fists, the muscles through her arms and legs through her pants flexing, scratches and cuts all over her dark skin.

Naisha looked straight past Kauis and threw daggers at Maija with her gaze. White hot and blazing so brightly, Maija shivered, goosebumps crawling up her arms. She stood, bracing, hands out by her side, fingers wiggling, ready to draw the gun at her hip in the next moment if necessary.

She stumbled off her ship as it came in line with Kaius's. Naisha clutched the side of her left forearm, blood freely pouring over her fingers. She didn't seem to care as she stepped closed and closer to Maija, rage burning in her eyes. "TRAITOR!"

Naisha charged towards Maija, screaming. Kaius didn't react, didn't turn his head towards the women as Naisha threw a punch at Maija. She ducked below Naisha's arm, reaching up and grabbing her wrist. Maija threw herself back up, working Naisha's arm up and back behind her shoulder.

Naisha roared, grabbing to the collar of Maija's shirt and pulled her down to the metal deck. Maija planted her feet, forced herself to stay put but Naisha was too strong. She flipped Maija down and slammed her back hard against the ground. The wind rushed out of Maija's lungs. She coughed hard, rolling to her side but Naisha didn't let her. She shunted her boot into Maija's stomach. Maija recoiled and clutched her stomach as pain burst through her body. Another kick landed against her shoulder, pushing her over onto her back.

This time, Maija used the momentum caused by the kick to roll up to her knees. She grabbed her spear from her back and held it by both ends as Naisha threw another kick towards her. Shouting now herself, Maija put the length of her spear under Naisha's leg and pushed up. She stumbled on her one foot and fell, landing on her lower back.

Maija dropped her spear, taking up her gun in an instant. She fired it at Naisha who rolled just out the way, the bullet pinging off the deck and ricocheting somewhere to the side. Naisha rolled along the deck and popped back up to her feet, now welding a knife in one of her hands. She lunged towards Maija, jumping up and swinging the blade of her weapon at Maija's face.

She jumped back, switching weapons, beating down the back of her spear against the side of Naisha's head. She stepped back, shaking the shock of the hit from her head. Maija moved it for another hit, but Naisha recovered, grabbing the spear with one hand, swiping with the knife with the other. Maija backed away, each step matched by Naisha's coming closer. Naisha stopped swiping and jutted the knife forwards.

Maija cried out, startled by the pain as the knife cut a smooth, clean cut through the flesh making up her upper arm. Naisha came back again, an animalistic rage twisting her face into an ugly and terrifying look. Maija ducked below her attack, grabbed her arm and twisted it back, finally able to get her arm in a lock. Naisha didn't let her, using her free arm to land a punch against Maija's side.

They fought out, each one almost matching the others skill. Naisha attacked with brute force as Maija dodged and weaved around each one, using a swiftness and agility given to her by her short, small stature. The crew of Kaius's ship watched in silence as they formed a loose circle around Maija and Naisha. Kaius stood at the back of the group, holding his hands thoughtfully up at his lips.

Naisha threw Maija down to her knees. Maija blocked the incoming attack with the length of her spear, but Naisha kept pushing down hard against it, bending the wood that made up its grip. Maija fought to push back, trying to stand up on her feet but Naisha tripled her in size and strength. Naisha shouted, roared from above Maija, the sky painted pink and orange behind her as the sun started to set somewhere in the distance.

Then the spear snapped, the sound of the splintering wood a condemning note in Maija's ears. Naisha's knife soared down towards Maija from above. She dropped the useless pieces of wood from her hands and rose them in protection as everything seemed to move in slow motion. Naisha screamed. Maija moved. She grabbed both of Naisha's wrists with one hand, tearing an arrow from her quiver and stabbed it deep into Naisha's stomach.

Maija pulled the arrow back and threw it to the ground as Naisha buckled back, tripping over her own feet and falling to the ground. Maija clutched her wounded arm in one hand as she pulled each large breath in one after another. She was drenched in sweat and blood, tears from exhaustion clouding her vision.

A footstep sounded behind her, hard on metal. Maija spun around to see Kaius slowly walking up to her, his face empty, completely unreadable. She looked up at him, reflecting the same anger Naisha looked at her with back towards Kaius. Maija was exhausted, wobbly on her feet, but not willing to quit now.

Kaius lashed out in an instant, far quicker than Maija could react to. His hand wrapped around her throat, lifting Maija off her feet. Her oxygen supply was cut off immediately, choking through Kaius's tight grip that kept squeezing. Maija grabbed to his wrist, trying to put him off but he was too strong, infinitely stronger than Naisha. She tried to move her right arm into position to use her grappling hook, but Kaius was fast, picking up on her motive before she could even think of putting it into action.

He grabbed onto her grappling hook with his free hand and tore it off, splitting the device in two unusable pieces with Maija's forearm in the middle. The pain was powerful but not even a scream could escape through Kaius's ironclad grip. The broken grappling hook clattered to the deck, some pieces falling to the island far below.

"You lied to me Maija," Kaius said, his voice still, quiet, almost unnoticeable. "You look up into my eyes and lied straight to my FACE!" He spun around, still holding tightly to Maija's throat and threw her down against the ship's deck. She rolled several times along the metal floor before landing on her stomach, feeling too weak to pull herself up. Air and relief finally flooded into her lungs. She sucked a huge breath of air in and coughed it all out.

He left her little time to recover. Kaius kicked her hard in her side, Maija turned over crawling into a fetal position Kaius quickly destroyed. He bent down calmly on his knees, sitting far above Maija but his face only an arm's length from hers. He reached out, took hold of her throat again, lifting her back up. Maija could feel the oxygen leave her as her body consumed all that she had left.

"Please, st-," Maija managed to squeeze out her throat, everything spun around her as Kaius lifted her up just barely off her toes which scraped and felt around the floor for any support.

A look of sadness so strong passed over Kaius's face so quickly that Maija instantly stopped struggling even if her head was pounding and her lungs burned with the need for fresh air. "Not this time, Maija. Did you really think you could fool me? I saw it in your eyes the moment you lifted your head to me."

His grip loosened. Not enough for Maija to escape, but enough for just a little clean, fresh and cool air to fill some part of her lungs. "I thought we could rule together, Maija. I thought we could help bring this world back together again. To unite an adrift world with no future but... you've only told me there's no hope for me here. It's time to go home."

He dropped her. Did nothing more than let go of Maija's throat and she fell, collapsed to the ground having no strength to catch her fall. He was already turning away from her, walking back towards the end of the ship. He spoke calmly. "Activate the device."

No one replied. The sun cast long, tired shadows across the ship's deck, the clouds turning massive winds that pulled and circled around the peak of Ishtar's domed top.

Kaius stopped, slowly turning to face the crew behind him. His face flared into anger Maija had never seen in him before. Red and hot, his face flushing visibly behind his beard. "FIRE IT NOW!"

The crew scattered, moving around the ship's deck. Maija couldn't move. She tried. Her arms and legs, everything hurt, was stiff. She pulled herself up, pushing a leg up underneath her but fell back down before she could find any support.

She groaned. Cried. Tears flowed from her eyes, pouring down her cheeks. Hopelessness settled in on her, reinforced beliefs that she had pushed to the side, letting them flow out of her again. This was it. This was the end. She had failed him.

The world erupted in sound outside her ears, but it all sounded faded, distant. It wasn't until heat washed over her that she looked up just in time to see a cannon shell explode against the side Kaius's ship, the entire ship buckling. The explosion threw her across the ship's deck. She rolled, slid as the ship tilted downwards, knocked by cannon fire that relentlessly kept striking Kaius's ship.

Maija screamed. Reached out. Her hand grabbed a lip in the deck's surface just as her feet felt nothing but air. Her fingers were weak but it was clear someone was attacking this ship. Reinvigoration filled Maija's mind, empowered her muscles, returned her strength. Maija pulled herself back up, shouting into the air as she did.

The ship tilted back into position. Maija picked herself up, looking around. The top deck was empty but the sky around it wasn't. It seemed almost as if every ship in Kaius's fleet was fighting another, ships coming in from every angle firing cannon shell after cannon shell, unloading hundreds and hundreds collectively into Kaius's fleet. Each ship that fought back against New Unity bore no mark, no uniform, each one unique, hand crafted by its pilot.

Maija felt no relief. Not yet. She didn't let herself. As long as Kaius was still alive, this world was in danger. She needed to find and kill him. It didn't matter what she had yet to learn. It didn't matter how little she understood about what she had already learned. Maija had enough mistakes and either she or Kaius was going to pay for them. And a little voice in the back of her mind said it wasn't going to be her.

She turned towards the stairs down deeper into the ship but stopped as she tasted something very familiar. Something in the wind that almost tasted like copper. The hair along her arms and down her neck stood straight as an electricity vibrated and pulsed through the air. She spun back around, now facing the front of the ship, towards Ishtar whose white stone had started to almost glow.

Kaius stood at the ship's bow, his body now just a silhouette against a light that had seemed to have appeared from nowhere. His coat blew in the wind as he stood, still, unmoving, looking straight towards Maija.

"I'm going to kill you!" Maija shouted at him, but he didn't react. She screamed, tearing her gun from her side. She fired a bullet, another one, one after the next without taking any break, any time to aim her shots. One struck Kaius, landing in his shoulder. She stopped as he reached out and pounded his chest, blood from the open wound splattering against the ground.

The light bloomed, grew brighter, a teal green backdrop to Kaius's figure that stood strong as rain started to pour from the sky, the blinding orange sunlight not waning by the storm that clouded in front of it. Maija screamed. Told him to stop but she couldn't hear her voice as all sound faded, a wide beam of light so bright Maija had to shield her eyes traveling from the bow of Kaius's ship towards the center of Ishtar's dome.

The beam was absorbed into its stone coursing through it, ejected up towards the sky, clearing through the clouds and blasting them away. Everything was so bright. Maija screamed as it felt as if she might go blind. She fell to the ground, pushing her palms into her face. Somehow, Kaius's voice pierced through the pain, through the silence.

"You were never my daughter anyway. I'll see you on the other side, Maija."